Ready For My Close Up, Darling
by Oh Moneypenny
Summary: John is recruited for a modelling job in Scotland with the Scottish Wool Company. While he is away, he meets a multitude of people. But also while he is away, Sherlock finds himself missing John.
1. Chapter 1

Hey there, lovelies. This is a little bit of fun for all you Sherlockians out there. This is for my friend Bryony - also known as A Paper Rose, since she just got herself a little modelling job so I thought this was very appropriate - however, anyone can enjoy this story, which I hope you do.

**Summary:** John is recruited for a modelling job to model some of Scotland's finest jumpers. In Scotland, anything can happen. He meets the charming, fun model Bryony Humphries, a multitude of stylists and make up artists, two very different photographers and a sexy, blue eyed boss. But while he's away in Scotland, Sherlock starts to miss him and ends up being impulsive for once.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Sherlock. Nor do I own any of the characters that appear in this story: so I don't own Suits, Merlin, Glee, possibly Ugly Betty - I can't specify right now since I haven't made my mind up.

**Ready For My Close Up, Darling**

**Chapter 1**

On a bright Saturday morning, John sat on the sofa sifting through the post. Most of it was ordinary letters, yet one caught his eye. It was a crisp white envelope with his name neatly typed on the front; it could easily have been any other letter except from the post mark that hid in the right corner of the envelope next to the stamp. It was from Scotland. John frowned at this, wondering what the letter was.

He tore open the letter, unfolding it. A logo of Scotland covered in a cable knit print stood in the corner along with the details of the Scottish Wool Company. John frowned, wondering what on earth this letter was about. The neat type read:

_Dear Mr Watson, _

_Through noticing several of your photographs in newspapers, we have written to offer you a preposition. We have noticed your taste for knitted jumpers and wondered if you would be at all interested in modelling our latest line. _

_Although we started off only making knitted products, we have expanded our lines to include a whole range of clothes, and are ready to take our first photoshoot. As I previously said, we would be ecstatic if you would accept the offer of being our model for the clothes. _

_Naturally, we believe this would be a great opportunity for both you and the company. Normally, we would approach an agency for our model but the tone of your blog and the photographs featured in newspapers suggest that you're just the man for our new line. _

_I enclose never seen before photographs of the Autumn/Winter line. Please feel free to contact me at all if you have any queries about the line. More importantly, contact me within this week to let me know if you wish to partake in the shoots. _

_The shoots will be in Scotland, since we like to show our clothes in the natural beauty of the country they're made in. The shoot will be over a week – since we like to be thorough in our work. For the majority of the shoot, it will be taken in the outdoors. This year, Loch Lomand has been chosen as our location. _

_Also, we would require you to work with a co-model as often we promote the idea of the Scottish Wool Company being for everyone. Your co-model's name is Bryony Humphries, feel free to look her up. She was excited to hear you might be working with you; she's a huge fan of your blog. _

_Obviously, we would pay all of your expenses and payment for your work can be discussed. _

_Sincerely, _

_M. Ross_

_Scottish Wool Company. _

John read and re-read the letter three times before he raised his head. Modelling? Bloody hell. He'd never seen himself as a model before; he just liked wearing his jumpers. He looked down at himself, glancing at his chest and arms before looking back at the letter. Sherlock was tapping away on the laptop, researching something he had become interested in while bored at two o'clock that morning.

John swallowed thickly before reading the letter again. Bryony Humphries, he smiled at the name. It wasn't familiar but it was a pretty name indeed. He felt himself blushing at the fact she knew who he was. A model reading his blog certainly was flattery.

"John?" Sherlock asked, roused out of his researching since John had been poring over the same letter for the last ten minutes.

"Mm?" John replied lightly, folding the letter up and tucking it in his pocket.

"What _are _you doing?" Sherlock asked, narrowing his eyes slightly at John.

"Reading the post, Sherlock, what're you doing?"

"I'm researching why open heart surgery is often conducted with simple local anaesthetic as opposed to general. But that's non-important. You're hiding something."

John laughed quietly and shook his head, standing to make his way to the kitchen and make tea. He didn't want to tell Sherlock for fear of him thinking it stupid or superficial, but he didn't think he could turn the opportunity down. He stirred milk into his tea, thinking about what it would be like.

The only cameras he was ever in front of was, indeed, the ones for newspapers where he stood beside Sherlock and listened to him report about cases they had won due to Sherlock's powers of deduction. Maybe it would be nice to show off his jumpers and be able to flash a grin for once.

Plus, to go to Scotland would be lovely. It was a beautiful country after all, and although he didn't know much about Loch Lomand, he wanted to go. Surely, Sherlock could manage for a week on his own as long as he had a case to keep him busy. After all, Mrs Hudson could always pop in to make sure he was quite all right.

Sherlock had produced his violin and was standing by the window tuning up. John sat down in his favourite chair, and pulled the laptop into his lap and opened the web browser.

Firstly, he Googled his might-be-co-model, Bryony Humphries. According to her Wikipedia page, she was a young model from Cornwall although spent a lot of time in Scotland because she had went to university there. It seemed she was a girl of natural beauty, John was glad not to see a fake tanned girl with ribs and hips poking out everywhere.

He located her on Twitter too, finding that she had a lovely sense of humour and was spending a lot of her time in Glasgow at the moment. John smiled, feeling more at ease about taking the job if he was to work with a girl like Bryony.

He opened up an e-mail and fired off one to the sender of the letter, a Mr M Ross, that he would be happy to take the job, and was honoured that he had been chosen. He did it before he could think, more importantly, he did it before telling Sherlock.

* * *

Pressing that little review button would really make my day, y'know.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there everyone. Okay, a few notes on this one before we begin. This is still listed as a normal fanfiction because there are characters from many other fandoms so I don't want to favour one as a crossover.

For anyone that doesn't watch Suits, Mike Ross is a character from that. In Suits he's a lawyer but here he's clearly the manager for the shoot. Harvey, who is mentioned as his boyfriend, is also a character from Suits who plays another lawyer. Even if you don't watch this, give it a read!

Enjoy!

**Ready For My Close Up **

**Chapter 2**

In Scotland, Mr Mike Ross was sitting at his desk, reading an email from John Watson. A delighted grin spread across his face as he read John's letter of acceptance, it seemed he now had all the people he needed for a shoot. He had a feeling this was going to be an extremely fun week.

Just as he finished sending a reply to the lovely John Watson, his favourite model and best friend of eight years ran into the room. They had met in university and hit it off immediately since she approved of his skinny tie. They spend a lot of time together, and had even helped each other in romantic affairs. They were a great duo, although sometimes Mike did tease Bryony about her height - or lack of it.

Bryony grinned at him, and squeezed his shoulder gently. "Nice to see you smiling, baby," she said, knowing Mike had been sad for the past week since his boyfriend, Harvey, was visiting his family back in New York. He had snapped at a million different people the past week and had been checking his phone more than ever. He laughed quietly at the affectionate pet name she always insisted on using, no matter who they were in the company of.

"I have reason to be smiling," Mike said, "John Watson just agreed to work on the shoot with us."

Bryony clapped her hands and her smile nearly split her face in two. "Oh, are you serious? Don't joke with me, Michael Ross!" She turned to face the window. "I'm going to meet John Watson! The John Watson! Oh, you have no idea how excited I am!"

Mike laughed and opened his mouth to reply but was cut off as his phone vibrated on the table next to his hand. His smile deepened he checked the text and suddenly Bryony was at his shoulder trying to get a glimpse of the text.

"Hey," Mike laughed, gently nudging her away. "He's_ my_ boyfriend, so the texts are for _my _eyes only." Bryony rolled her eyes. She knew Mike was missing his boyfriend, Harvey, but did he really have to be so protective? How else was she going to get the gossip, after all?

"All right, Midget Gem, I'll see you later," Mike said, using his own affectionate name for Bryony, who barely skimmed the height of 5'2. She feigned sulking for a moment before he kissed her on the forehead. "I have to go meet the photographers for lunch."

"Bye, baby," she said as he went out the door and only then, did she proceed to do a happy dance about getting to meeting the infamous, wonderful Doctor John Watson.

* * *

Back at Baker Street, John was preparing to tell Sherlock about his new modelling job. Sherlock was sipping his tea and reading a book when John entered the living room. John sat down and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.

"Sherlock?" John asked, "We need to talk."

Sherlock chuckled lightly under his breath as he shut the book. "That_ is _ominous, John. What's wrong?"

"Well… I'm going away for a week." John said, deliberating whether to make out he was simply going on holiday. Frowning, he decided to tell the truth.

"Where?" Sherlock asked immediately.

"Scotland," John said.

"Why?"

"I've… well, to be quite honest, I've been offered a modelling job. With the Scottish Wool Company." John said, blushing a little to hear it said out loud.

"Modelling?" Sherlock asked, "But… it's you." His eyebrows knitted together as he tried to comprehend the situation.

"Thanks for the round of assurance," John muttered, glancing at the carpet.

"But…" Sherlock said again, fingers thumbing through the pages of his book absently. Thoughts were racing through his mind: _I didn't know you would model; Scotland is awfully far away; what'll I do without you; what if I miss you… I will miss you._

He didn't say any of these thoughts, but gave a little nod and then looked at John again. "When do you go?"

"I don't know yet. The shoot manager is going to email me back soon."

"I'm glad you told me now," Sherlock said. "It would have been… strange if you'd left it until the last minute. Or left without telling me at all." A little bitter smile graced Sherlock's face as he opened his book again, declaring the conversation closed.

"I'll make sure Mrs Hudson checks in on you while I'm away, Sherlock," John said quietly as he turned on the television.

"Certainly. You say that as if I'm an invalid." Sherlock said with a note of sarcasm prominent in his voice. "Or that I can't survive without you."

John rolled his eyes. This conversation hadn't gone quite how he had planned. He could see the time before he left to be a quiet one, with Sherlock being more obtuse than normal. He just hoped Sherlock would be okay when he left, and wouldn't insist on keeping Mrs Hudson up with shouts of "Bored!" at the empty flat and playing the violin at all hours of the day… or night.

John mindlessly kept his eyes trained on the television screen, while Sherlock huffed and turned a page snappily in the corner of his eyeline. He thought he'd miss Sherlock while he was away but since the atmosphere was so hostile here, maybe a week in the countryside of Scotland would do him good.


End file.
